Kim’s Dream Orlan Ravanera
Transformative Leader for People, Planet, Prosperity & Peace
Cong. Argel T. Cabatbat/ Magsasaka Partylist
“From time to time there appear on the face of the earth, men of rare and consummate excellence who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light. Like those extraordinary stars whose origins we are ignorant and of whose fate, once they have vanished, we know even less, such men have neither forebears nor descendants, they are the whole of their race.”
Every generation is faced with problems inherent in its own time and circumstances but there will always be leaders who will stand-up to the call to uproot the root causes of the problems. This was true one and half centuries ago when Rizal and Bonifacio rose-up to the call by waging struggle against colonialism as our country then had been suffering from long years of oppression and colonial rule. The charisma of these few brave men inspired the many to organize resistance giving birth to a sovereign nation.
The advent of a new age saw our country beset with a new set of problems deeply rooted in the poverty and powerlessness of the people, especially of the peasantry. The challenges we face today may be different from those faced by our ancestors before but the guiding formula that relies on the collective strength of the people has remained the same. For in truth, the people united, can never be defeated. This was true historically when the subdued Filipinos collectively fought and dismantled successfully colonial rule. This is truer even today when the people, especially the peasantry are organizing and mobilizing as they bind themselves to elect a leader, to fight for what is right, what is true and what is just. That most-awaited leader has finally come in the person of Congressman of MAGSASAKA PARTYLIST, CONGRESSMAN ARGEL TAAR CABATBAT.
Cong. Argel has exemplified the essence of being the representative of the farmers in Congress, exercising his governmental functions to the highest degree of commitment, dedication and service to the Filipino people. He firmly believes that any short or long-term development in the Philippines can be won or lost through agriculture, our country being an agricultural country where two-thirds of the people live in the rural areas doing farming or farming related activities. That being the case, it is so painful to note, as Cong. Argel explains, that the rural populate particularly the farmers are suffering in extreme poverty. Such is reinforced by a study of the UN-FAO that “agriculture in the Philippines has only contributed .02% to the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in the last decade. In fact, three of four young farmers are now leaving farming, going to the urban centers to work as janitors, drivers or waiters and if beautiful, as dancers.
Foremost in the agenda of Cong. Argel is to liberate the poor peasantry from the quagmire of poverty. It is indeed paradoxical that the farmers are the producers of food, yet they are hungry especially in Mindanao described as the “food basket” of the country yet 85% of the children are malnourished, according to Food and Nutrition Institute. The Magsasaka Partylist has a concrete analysis on the root cause of poverty as three questions must be answered: WHILE OUR COUNTRY IS OOZING WITH ECOLOGIAL RESOURCES BUT WHO CONTROLS? WHO DECIDES? WHO BENEFITS? Not the farmers but a few oligarchs. Indeed, everyone is profiting from farming, i.e., the seed and fertilizer dealers, the compradors, the usurers, the middlemen, etc. but not those who are doing the back-breaking job of farming exposed to the excruciating heat of the sun – the poor farmers.
Thus, it has become imperative to empower the powerless peasantry to be the ones to decide and benefit from farming. It is Cong. Argel’s priority agenda that the primary beneficiaries of the development of our natural resources should be the Filipino farmers, not foreign corporations. Thus, as a passionate lawyer, Cong. Argel has strongly advocated for legislation that is favorable to the peasantry, not to the oligarchs. His bravery to make accountable corrupt officials that are pocketing hundreds of millions of pesos had even put his life in utmost danger. There was a time that he was ambushed, rained with bullets but miraculously, he survived.
What Magsasaka Partylist is now strongly advocating is the NO TO TARIFF CUTS ON RICE, CORN, PORK AND CHICKEN. Together with the Philippine Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) headed by former Secretary of Agriculture, Leonardo Montemayor, a national protest is now being waged not to allow the massive entry of the above-named agricultural products especially rice to our country at the expense of the poor farmers. Indeed, enough is enough of the cartels’ stranglehold of agriculture which means that the enrichment of these oligarchs means the impoverishment of the poor farmers.
The amazing Magsasaka Partylist Congressman is now the voice of the voiceless farmers who are called “unsung heroes” yet are victims of gross social injustices. Don’t you know that a bag of fertilizer that is just bought in Ukraine at ₱50 is sold in Mindanao at about ₱2,000 as everything sold in this country passes at least five marketing layers? While the poor farmers are buying farm inputs at high price but their farm products are bought at low price during harvest time, following the law of supply & demand. What is so painful and a travesty of social justice was when the Rice Tariffication Law was passed which allowed cheaply grown rice to enter our country. While farmers in Thailand and Vietnam are producing per kilo of rice at only ₱5 following organic farming, Filipino rice farmers are producing per kilo of rice at ₱15 production cost because Philippine agriculture is tied-up to Conventional Agriculture which is too dependent on the use of massive chemical fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide. DAHIL DITO, MARAMI NA PONG MAGSASAKA ANG NAGPAKAMATAY DAHIL NABAON NA SA UTANG!
It is in this context that Cong. Argel together with the FFF is strongly opposing the passage of legislation lowering the taxes on the importation of agricultural products from neighboring countries INDEED, NO TO TARIFF CUTS. The strong message of Magsasaka Partylist is now reverberating throughout the land: IT IS FROM THE SWEAT OF THEIR BROWS THAT THE LAND IS MADE PRODUCTIVE, LET THEREFORE THE UNSUNG HEROES BE THE ONES TO BENEFIT, NOT THE OLIGARCHS, NOT THE MIDDLEMEN AND NOT THE WILY POLITICIANS. Economic power should not beget pollical power. Enough is enough of oligarchical control of our blessed agricultural lands which should be for the Filipinos not for foreign investors. Thank you so much Cong. Argel for your courageous stand in strongly supporting the advocacy and struggle for the rule of law, of social justice and of human rights to prevail over the non-stop coercive eviction of thousands of Ilocano farmers by the Southern Philippine Development Authority that is continuously tractoring their farms in cohort with foreign corporations, the LGU and the AFP.
The most long-awaited leader has finally come who is even willing to give up his life so that others may live. Indeed, there is no greater grandeur sight on earth than a courageous leader who is determined to transform a highly skewed societal order, stopping repression of the poor and the oppressed and removing structural wrongs to advance sustainability, equity and social justice. Such is in consonance with the Constitutional declaration that the “State shall promote social justice in all phases of national development.” To you, Cong. Argel, our firm salute and warm embrace. You are that light and no dark forces can defeat.
